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The first contemporary analysis of Bedouin and biblical cultures sheds new light on biblical laws, practices, and Bedouin history

Written by one of the world’s leading scholars of Bedouin culture, this groundbreaking book sheds new light on significant points of convergence between Bedouin and early Israelite cultures, as manifested in the Hebrew Bible. Bailey compares Bedouin and biblical sources, identifying overlaps in economic activity, material culture, social values, social organization, laws, religious practices, and oral traditions. He also examines the question of whether some early Israelites were indeed nomads as the Bible presents them, offering a new angle on the controversy over their identity as well as new cultural perspectives to scholars of the Bible and the Bedouin alike.

Clinton Bailey has studied Bedouin culture firsthand for fifty years and is the author of books on Bedouin poetry, law, and proverbs. He has been an advocate and activist on behalf of Bedouin civil rights in Israel since 1978.